HEALTH CARE POLL: PUBLIC WORKERS SHOULD PAY MORE

LANSING, Mich. - About 57 percent of voters likely
would support requiring public employees, including teachers, to pay 20 percent
of their health care premiums, according to a recent poll, the Michigan
Information & Research Service Inc., reported today.

The same poll showed that voters were divided — 47
percent in favor and 48 percent opposed — on the idea of cutting public
employee salaries by 5 percent, MIRS reported.

The poll of 600 likely voters was conducted by the
Lansing-based firm EPIC/MRA from Feb. 22 to Feb. 25, MIRS reported. It had a
plus-or-minus margin of error of 4 percent.

When asked how to balance the state budget, 28 percent
of respondents favored cutting existing programs and services without any
increase in state taxes or fees, while 9 percent favored raising taxes and fees
enough to cover the budget deficit without any program or service reductions,
MIRS reported. The remainder favored some combination of cuts and tax hikes.

MICHIGAN NOT SEEN AS 'RACE' FRONT-RUNNER

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Will Michigan be included when
first-round finalists in the Race to the Top program are named, possibly this
week? Not according to most predictions by national education writers and
observers, though the final decision is up to U.S. Education Secretary Arne
Duncan.

Forty states and the District of Columbia applied for
a share of the $4.35 billion that will be distributed on a competitive basis to
states that have promised various educational reforms and innovations.
First-round finalists may be named this week, followed by first-round winners
in April and then a second round in September.

Michigan's own education leaders have suggested that
the state will stand a better chance in the second round, The Grand Rapids
Press reported.

Education Week reporters predicted that Florida,
Louisiana, Massachusetts, Illinois and Tennessee will win first-round grants
based on such things as their support of charter schools and use of student
test scores to evaluate teachers.

Thomas W. Carroll, president of the Foundation for
Education Reform and Accountability, also names Florida, Louisiana and
Tennessee as likely winners, but says Michigan is "competitive" as well, based on the legislation it adopted on
failing schools, charter school growth and teacher evaluation.

Michigan was not mentioned in a Washington Post column
by Kevin Huffman, executive vice president of public affairs for Teach for
America, who says the real question is whether promised reforms actually come
about. He credited Louisiana for submitting a realistic plan based on expanding
programs that already are in place.

REGIONAL TEACHER CONTRACT ON THE TABLE

COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. - The Comstock Park Education
Employees Association voted to approve what could become a regional labor
contract if their colleagues in other school districts adopt it as well,
according to The Grand Rapids Press.

Details of the contract have not been made public, but
it includes health care changes intended to bring down school spending, The
Press reported.

Sixteen of the 21 public school districts in Kent
County face contract negotiations in 2010-2011, which led administrators and the
regional Kent County Education Association to develop a template contract,
according to the report.

At least nine districts would have to adopt the
template in order for it to take effect; otherwise, each district will
negotiate independently, The Press reported.

MIXED RESULTS IN BOND VOTES

LIVINGSTON COUNTY, Mich. - Voters in Hartland
Consolidated Schools, Pinckney Community Schools and Chippewa Valley Schools
approved bond issues of $28 million, $59 million and $89 million, respectively,
last week, but Berkley School District voters turned down a $168 million
proposal, according to media reports.

The Hartland vote will continue an existing 7.6-mill
levy for an additional five years, pushing the retirement date to approximately
2034, according to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus. All of the
district's schools will be upgraded, the report said.

Similarly, Pinckney taxpayers now will continue to pay
a debt- retirement tax of 7.55 mills until 2037, rather than 2027, according to
the Press & Argus. Chippewa Valley residents will pay 7.65 mills until
2031, rather than 2026, according to The Macomb Daily. The money in those
districts will go to assorted technology and equipment purchases and facility
upgrades.

In Berkley, voters told The Daily that they couldn't
afford the 4.27- to 7.75-mill tax increase, and that the proposal
to rebuild five elementary schools as well as a new middle school was too
expansive.

RETIRING SUPERINTENDENTS SAY PENSION NOT A FACTOR

GENESEE COUNTY, Mich. - Four long-time school
superintendents will retire in Genesee County in 2010, according to The Flint
Journal. Two said their decision is not related to a proposal by Gov. Jennifer
Granholm to boost pension benefits for retirees.

Superintendents Barbara Goebel of Flushing Community
Schools, Clay Perkins of Davison Community Schools, Ralph Coaster of Fenton
Area Public Schools and Thomas Svitkovich of the Genesee Intermediate School
District all have announced retirement plans, according to The Journal.

A spokesman for Goebel and Svitkovich told The Journal
that their decisions were unrelated to the governor's proposal to offer a
retirement incentive to long-time school employees, saving the state money by
replacing some of them with incoming employees at beginning wages. The other
superintendents could not be reached for comment, The Journal reported.

The Journal reported that a superintendent making
$150,000 a year, with 30 years seniority, would receive an extra $4,500
annually under the proposal, or a pension of about $72,000 a year. A Michigan
Education Association spokeswoman told The Journal that the average teacher
would receive $1,000 to $2,000 on top of an annual pension of about $28,000.

Several Flint area school administrators told The
Journal that it was hard to predict how many teachers would accept such an
incentive.

MICHIGAN EDUCATION DIGEST is a service of Michigan Education Report (http://www.educationreport.org), an online newspaper published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (http://www.mackinac.org), a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational institute.